Chapter 4

It certainly didn´t look much of a challenge. The conditions in which the building was kept told him there wouldn´t be any danger of something suddenly falling down due to his weight or from problems in the construction. The real problem would be the windows, where a policeman could look down or to the sides and spot him. So overall, reaching the top of the building would be a matter of stealth and shortcuts. Not very recommendable for someone who was still recovering his former physical shape.

"Shut up already. I make my own luck.", Shay stubbornly berates himself. Where were his worries coming from today?

Already grabbing a vertical pipe that went up to the third floor of the building, Shay scales the building while doing as less noise as possible, his controlled breathing and the soft slam of his hands on the barrel being the only sounds made. To his dismay, he is close to fully climbing the thing when he feels the need to rest, so he leaves the barrel and climbs on top of a working air-conditioning unit to regain breath on the right. Curse the Assassins and Liam especially! If it wasn´t for that damned bullet, he wouldn´t be taking a break like a civilian trying out for a marathon. Perhaps he should start finding a gym to work out…

He takes a glance to the crowd down the street to see if Ming was watching him only to find the man missing. That wasn´t good. Maybe he should hurry up before Ming did something he might regret. Huffing, he resumes his climbing, going even slower this time around. He finds a ledge leading to a worn out billboard to the right, away from the eyesight of an emerging policeman, and shimmies towards the billboard. The paper of the advertisement is torn in a few places, exposing the metal infrastructure holding the billboard to the wall and making them the perfect handholds to ease the climbing. Going up diagonally to the upper limits of the advertisement, little by little, Shay begins to discern a conversation.

"The fact that he is here means something nasty is up.", a male voice remarks.

"I know it does. But we can´t do anything unless he causes a ruckus.", a sterner male voice says to the other man. "That man should have been put behind bars a long time ago."

Shay zooms out of the eavesdropping to check where to go next. Continuing climbing the billboard would lead directly to the window and then he could be caught, so he looks to the left to find more handholds away from the window, not far from where he is. With a small calculated jump, Shay grabs the small metal bar and continues on his way, all the while his attention going back to the conversation from back then.

"What about the rest of his goons? Usually they´re not far behind.", the male voice notes. As Shay looks down, he finds the owner of the voice looking out to the streets, his head rotating as he follows someone´s movements, probably Viper´s.

"Those guys have their own agendas, Wei. Downtown is not the only part of town under control of the Triple Threats Triad.", the sterner voice says.

"Wow, hold on, sir! Then where do they have other bases?", Wei asks, taken by surprise. Quite frankly, Shay stops just above the window to better hear the valuable information.

"Reports say that some lower members of the Triad are making regular trips to the Dragon Flats Boroughs, staying well past half a day. What´s curious is that the boroughs are active Traid territory under no current ownership, which means either a deal is going on, or they are expanding territory.", his superior reveals. Shay finds that interesting. The gangs in New York all worked for the same organization, however it wasn´t out of ordinary for a gang to get greedy and try to take over another portion of the city from an ally. The situations was very, very similar with each other.

"But this isn´t New York. These Triads don´t work together and seem to not be on good terms.", Shay reminds himself. There could be lots of collateral damage depending on how deep the rivalry was and the time when they´d be at each others` throats.

Shay, still going over the new information, carries on climbing, deciding he had lost enough time. Another ventilation unit is his next stop to take a break. By now, he is on the third story and the view of the crowds and the buildings down to City Hall was something that would give a lesser man dizziness. He notices that he is almost leaving the darkest side of the building and potentially be close to being discovered. He searches for a route that doesn´t lead him to broad daylight, but he can´t find one. His only alternative is to go through a closed window and continue from the inside.

With no other choice, he stands against the wall on his back and sidewalks towards the window, ignoring his throat drying up as a result of a tiny flicker of fear of falling and crashing down. He keeps his cool and reaches the window, sliding it open to his side and, after checking his surroundings, he vaults in, closing the window to avoid suspicions. He finds himself in an office with five desks per ten rows, papers stocked in piles and telephones on top of them. He checks a sheet of paper beneath his right foot and his moderate understanding of Chinese allows him to figure out that the office handled insurances. He stays still to try and catch any sounds of footsteps, and then he silently walks to the stairs leading up, always in a crouched position. He halts by the stairs to peek down and see if there´s anyone going up to his location before he carries on. At the end of the stairs he crouches again and sharpens his senses to detect anyone is the new story. This time he can hear the rustling of papers, which confirms he is not alone. He immediately slides to a wall and grabs a sharp shard of glass left by a corner, using it to get a look to where the policeman was and determinate his course of actions. The policeman, a metalbender by the attire he wore and the cables strapped to his hips, was studying the papers, too interested in his job to look up and see the hand holding the shard coming from behind the beige wall. The room was exactly like the previous one, so Shay can already establish a route via hiding behind the desks and out of sight.

Shay slides to the desk closer to him and crouches again, unheard by the policeman. Hearing nothing that indicates he´s checking up on his location, Shay maneuvers discreetly towards the next set of desks, vaults over them to the next desk, as the rest of the way has no means to conceal him, and remains there. This time, the cop did lift his head to check on what was causing the soft stomping of feet he had heard. He surveys the room, shrugs his shoulders and goes back to arranging the sheets of papers in the desk, muttering "That was close". Shay breathes a small sigh of relief and leaves his cover to head to the unwatched stairs. His approach is cut to an end however by the glimpse of heels hitting its steps and Shay retreats back to his cover, shaking off the strain in his legs because of the prolonged positioning.

"Wanna gather for booze and cigars tonight?", a female voice asks to her unseen companion.

"Weren´t you letting go of those?", a male voice chuckles. The more they go down the stairs, the more their armored legs become visible.

"What my husband doesn´t know stays that way.", the woman retorts with annoyance. "So how´s the search coming along, Hanzo?"

Shay sinks lower in his cover and the formerly only man in the room straightens his back and salutes the two.

"I have collected these insurance papers of the disappeared men and women. There is nothing conclusive as to why they would forge their kidnappings.", Hanzo reports, dropping his salute stance.

"Guess we can cross off attempting to waste our time.", the other man declares sitting on a desk out of sight of Shay. "Then that narrows the list down to two options: or the victims were lured to the new job post or one of the suspects is lying to us."

"What about the Triads?", Hanzo suggests.

"What would the Triads want with earthbenders without criminal records? And you saw their bank accounts, they were making big money.", the woman dismissed the theory. Shay hears flesh hitting flesh and an exclamation. "Oh Spirits, how come we´ve never thought of that? Where was all the money coming from?"

"…Point taken. Hanzo…", the other man agrees with audible surprise.

"On it.", the man says and Shay hears drawers being pulled back. "We have nothing here. Didn´t Mr. Chan work the office below?"

All Shay hears for the next minutes is the sound of footsteps heading to the stairs and going down another floor. Knowing the coast´s clear, Shay runs to the stairs leading to the last floor and climbs them hurriedly. The last floor is where the boss´s office is, if the big letters on the wooden door are any clue. To the right there is a balcony, with a canvas making shadow, overlooking the entrance to Downtown which, after Shay checked it out, was in front of the rooftop of a building that in turn overlooked the entire the street. Grinning and calculating the distance, Shay steps back against the wall and after inhaling deeply through the nose, sprints to the balcony and jumps over the railing. The sunlight hits Shay hard on the eyes and due to the intense light, Shay hits the rooftop´s ledge with the midsection instead of his legs.

"Fuck me…", Shay curses while groaning.

Painfully climbing to the rooftop, Shay gets up and with a hand rubbing his pained chest and looks over the crowd of people down. If the job wasn´t going to be easy before, it sure got harder while Shay was busy climbing a viewpoint. He heaves a sigh and closes his eyes. Maybe he could try something…

He remembered the Assassins talking about it, especially Achilles in his theoretical lessons of the ways the Brotherhood used to accomplish the tasks. The First Civilization, like the Greek Gods, had left a mark in mankind, a special trait that enabled people to analyze his or her surroundings in a deeper and detailed manner. Such ability was a rare thing to come across, and a few statements and records of Assassin members from past and present worldwide branches mentioned its use and the description of the feeling. Most of these accounts came from the hands and feathers of Altair Ibn-La-Ahad, François Goutier (Chevalier used to bring that up, the arsehole), Robin of Loxley, Thomas de Carnellion, Ezio Auditore, Shao Jun, Santiago Herrera and the most recent one, Edward Kenway, the Welsh Pirate turned Assassin. His was the most accurate one, going as far as to explaining how to activate it, with a mention of a Mary Read involved.

Now sure, the is about one in a thousand chances that somehow a member of the First Civilization had blessed his line with that trait, but it would not hurt to try. And desperate times called for desperate solutions.

"The sixth sense will only emerge if all other senses are working together. You have to look beyond the shadow and sound, even the heart of matter, until you see and hear a flicker. So far, everything Mary had told me has happened. It makes you think you´ve woken up from a deep sleep and that you can see what you have missed for so long. All men and women have it. Some never find it; Some take years to unlock it; But to others, it has always been there. I was lucky enough to belong to the latter.", the words of Edward Kenway ring in his head, bright and clear from the minutes spent memorizing them.

Oh, how Shay had tried to follow the instructions he had read when he was an Initiate. How he had failed time after time to hear beyond the grasshoppers in the night and see beyond the grass and the trees and everyone in the Homestead, only to reassure himself that it would come to him naturally. Because he felt he was special, like there was something in his skin that was begging to come out of the dark. Question was, when the devil was that going to happen?

"Lets us hope it is now.", Shay wishes, sending a silent prayer to God or whatever deity would hear his call.

Shay assumes a relaxed pose and closes his eyes, trying his hardest to enhance his senses, to try and hear everything and to imagine what he wasn´t watching. Still no sign of a flicker. His eyebrow twitches. He tries harder. His facial muscles tense in forced concentration. And still no sign of a flicker. Goddammit, c´mon! With a defeated growl, Shay opens his eyes and kicks a stone of the rooftop, not the least bothered by the sound of it striking someone´s tent and cracking some glass object.

"What can I be doing of wrong? I try and try and try but it´s always the same!", he complains, running his hands over his hair. "How did those other Assassins manage to get the sense? I doubt with all the conflict they had they had had time to develop the skills, the lucky bastards."

"Haven´t you figured it out already?"

Shay freezes. He had heard a voice that he thought it came only in his dreams. "Where are you?", he asks.

"Physically I am not here, in your world. I am using the special link we possess to communicate with you and now to help you unlock your hidden sense.", the voice, distorted as it had sounded in his sleep, explains.

"Who are you?", Shay asks, looking at the sky.

"I am «Héping», and I am a spirit. And in this moment, I am acting as your spiritual guide. I trust you have noticed the Airbending family practicing their bending?", the spirit introduces itself.

"Aye. They flow like a leaf and take regular meditation sessions to stay tuned with their inner selves.", Shay summarizes, recalling the times he had found Tenzin leading the said exercises.

"Good. That is what you shall do. Meditate.", Héping instructs.

With no real alternative to his trouble, Shay sits cross-legged on the ground, rests his hands on his knees and closes his eyes.

"Now take deep breaths and listen to as much as you can.", Héping continues, her voice becoming less distorted and sounding more soft. Shay does what he is told, capturing the sounds of the conversations on ground level, the Satomobiles driving in the streets, and the sounds of the air condition working. "Now visualize all that you hear: the people talking to one another, the carriages that move without assistance, the artificial air, the birds chirping…", Héping carries on. Once more, Shay does all that. The clearer the images are constructed in his head, the clearer he can sense a spark. Then he hears a flicker and his heart jumps in surprise. "Now open your eyes."

He cracks an eye open slowly to find the world very different. It´s strangely brighter and bluer. He looks at his hands, legs and torso to see them shining blue. He rises from his meditative stance and looks down below to the streets. It´s a sea of white specters, with a few dots of blue and red and a golden smoky line leading further into the street. He snaps his head to the right at the sound of a horn and he can´t stop the shock of seeing the whole world in white, blue, with the sky dark as a starless night. The sounds of the cars reach his ears in an increased volume, and Shay discovers that some of them come from the periphery of the city. The conversations the people are having fly into his ears, words of glee, sadness, horror and anger being registered in unison.

"This is amazing… I can hear everything and I can see everything.", Shay mutters, focusing on Air Temple Air. It´s like he´s there physically, watching the Air Nomads going on with their duties and chores and Pema attending the flowers.

"Wow.", Héping comments, sharing his thoughts. "I knew that Eagle Vision was some sort of enhanced sense, but I never imagined it was something this magnificent."

"Thank you, Háping.", Shay thanks.

"Héping. And you´re welcome. Seek me whenever you need help, Shay.", Héping corrects. Then Shay feels his head lose some weight he hadn´t noticed he had had and he is left alone.

So many questions rose in his head but were suppressed by his need to find the Triad member who had given him the slip. Still using his new-found gift, he searched the street carefully for his target, quickly establishing the meaning of the auras around people. People who could be a helping hand were marked by a blue aura, the red aura encircled the policemen spread around the buildings, so in a general term, enemies, and the plain white aura around the rest meant they were neutral or posed no danger to him. The golden lines were curious, extending all the way down the street and ending with the golden figure of Viper walking proudly through the crowd. But the one thing Shay could not understand were the colors in some people´s hands. Some were dark blue and flowed into the arms like blood, others brown and with some cracks around the wrists and others bright orange and hovered over the hands.

That was something he could set aside for later investigations. For now, calling off his gift with a blink of his eye, Shay goes back to ground level by sliding down a rusty pipe and started running towards Viper. Bumping into people, Shay also kept an eye out for Ming, whom he had not been able to find with his gift. After walking for some time, he begins to identify the light gray back of his target and gets closer to him, checking his Hidden Blades discreetly in case a fight broke out. He is side by side with him, the only one not giving a glance at the Triad member and hastily moving on, an action that catches Viper´s eye.

"Are you blind or just stupid?", Viper asks Shay, looking him up and down. Shay ignores him and keeps walking beside him as if Viper didn´t exist. "Ah, you´re deaf.", Viper realizes, stepping in front of Shay and making him stop. "So, now do you feel like reacting?"

Shay observes the Triad member. His expression betrayed cockiness and a high opinion of himself, so he most likely had a big position in the Triple Threat Triad and had some power in the ranks. A lump in the right side told him he kept a pouch with him, and considering the colors of his attire and his skin tone, he could probably be a waterbender. And lastly, his right shoulder was angled forwards, meaning he was right-handed.

"You the one they call Viper?", Shay attempts to guess, stalling time to find Ming.

"Indeed I am. And you must surely know that you are in Triple Threat Triad territory.", Viper confirmed. The people were starting to clear away when it was revealed who the mobster was.

"And is that suppose to scare me?", Shay asks bored. From the corner of the eye, he spots a familiar face with a long mustache. Using his gift, he confirms it´s Ming, surrounded by a blue one.

"Yes, it should. Since you´re new in town, I´m going to explain how things run in here: Downtown is ours and if you want protection, you pay us. If you don´t want to spend a day in the hospital, you have to show us respect.", Viper smiled dangerously. Intimidating people was just so fun to him…

But Shay was not fazed by the speech. "I´ve seen and heard of gangs since I was a lad, Viper. New York´s filled with them and I´ve done associations with them for 4 years. I know all their tricks and I can tell you are not original in your job. I don´t care if you are a waterbender or if you can send an assassin to kill me at night, I´ve seen scarier people than you.", Shay tells him, casually talking like he was narrating the weather report. Viper had by now lost his smug look and looked torn between surprised and irritated. "But good thing you´re here. Tell me how did this come into your hands?" Shay takes a pistol in his hand and shows it to the mobster.

Viper takes a long look at the thing and then looks at Shay. "Haven´t seen that thing ever.", he denies.

"Oh? Then it wasn´t you who sought a merchant to keep your secret merchandise hidden from unwanted eyes?", Shay calmly asks with a smile. He´s pleased to see the expression of Viper grow sterner. He takes a step forward, invading Viper´s personal space. "Who gave you my pistols?"

"I think you actually do have a hearing problem. I don´t know what you´re on about.", Viper growls. Then, without giving Shay time to react, he puts his right hand in the inside of the jacket and removes it in a swinging motion, releasing a water whip that slaps Shay hard, throwing him to the sidewalk and sending the pistol flying in the air. "And I think you are about to regret assuming I´m doing something illegal."

Shay rolls to the right and gets into a fighting stance, ready for a fight. But his opponent sticks to waterbending and moves his arms in a circular motion, a water whip forming, thrusting them forwards next and releasing it like a jet. Shay rolls forward to close in distance and attacks with a one-two combo of hooks, all blocked by Viper. The crowd of people disperses to avoid being caught in the crossfire, most of them shouting for help from the police. Viper ducks under a right hook and manipulates the water in a vase of flowers to flow upwards and rain down on Shay. Shay blocks his face with his forearms as he receives a shower of water mixed with bits of earth and is nearly thrown to his back. Viper does not waste time taking advantage of the opportunity and sweeps his feet from underneath him.

"This is a fight you could never win.", Viper gloats, looking down at Shay.

"Where are you Ming?", Shay asks inwardly.

As if he had heard the calling, a shadow appears over him and stomps a foot next to his head. With a quick set of jabs to Viper´s left arm, Ming attacks the mobster and finishes with a roundhouse kick, sending Viper away from the two.

"Thanks. Took you long enough.", Shay thanks, raising an arm which Ming takes.

"I was just waiting for the appropriate moment to show up.", Ming smiles, hoisting Shay up. His mood is no longer casual and jolly, it´s much more serious. "We take him on?"

"Yeah, let´s stall him until the police comes.", Shay agrees. This time he prepares to dodge anything Viper can throw at him.

Said mobster was getting up on one knee and glaring at Ming for the intrusion, hat resting beside him and his left arm dangling disabled in his right arm. Realizing the most dangerous of his opponents, he extends his usable arm to Ming and an arc of water shoots at his direction fast. Both non-benders dodge to a separate way and charge, Shay reaching for the pistol that hasn´t been shown and Ming moving in zig-zags to Viper. Trying to keep the two under his watch, he gets fully up and throws a rotating kick to the right, another arc of water appearing and aiming to the two. Shay somersaults the arc and Ming flips over the arc, almost reaching the mobster. Shay takes out his pistol and aims to Viper´s arm, an action that goes noticed and results in a second jet of water being sent at him. This distracts Viper from Ming and his other raised arm receives another set of jabs, disabling it totally. Shay, that had dodged the jet by sliding under it, runs up to the mobster and decks him, taking the used hand to Viper´s face and pushing it down while sweeping his feet.

Now with the roles reversed, Shay and Ming hold Viper´s limbs in place to restrain him and Shay resumes his interrogatory: "WHERE did you get my pistols?"

"Piss off.", Viper angrily spits.

"You should give him an answer, mobster. Otherwise, my friend will have to turn you into an eunuch.", Ming smirks.

Shay gives Ming a split-second glance before playing along. He slides his Hidden Blade out and rests it under Viper´s chin.

"I´d rather make you choke on your blood than give you a permanent scar.", Shay whispers in a dark tone. The eyes of his captive widen and look to the blade. "Now give me something that isn´t a curse."

"Go to…", Viper starts only to feel the tip of the blade press harder against his throat. "Alright fine. A contact inside the Police Headquarters passed them to my boss about a week ago. They weren´t anything like we´ve ever had, so the boss thought it´d be best to be kept away from others."

"Who would pick them up?", Ming questions . He feels the arm he´s holding return to full mobility and he can´t jab it, for it would mean releasing Viper´s leg.

"A friend who would hide them somewhere in the city.", Viper answers vaguely. He would be damned if he gave any names, that he knew for sure.

Shay slides the Hidden Blade back in place and grabs Viper by the collar of the shirt, Ming releasing his assigned limbs and watching. Getting the man up, Shay throws him against a stand full of pottery.

"If I find out something else from my arsenal has been taken away, you better pray I don´t find you, understood?", Shay growls, using the pistol to shoot a pot an inch above Viper´s head to clarify the point. Viper bares his teeth in annoyance at him and prepares to retaliate when he catches sight of something behind Shay´s back and smiles, disappearing in an alleyway afterwards. Soon there is the sound of metal piercing stone.

"Shay, we gotta get out of here.", Ming urges, grabbing Shay´s elbow and dragging him with him.

Behind them, the metalbenders that had been patrolling the streets inside the buildings were sailing through the air and in pursuit of the only men in sight and suspiciously responsible for the commotion many citizens had complained about. The non-benders run down the street, Shay following Ming´s lead as they turn left, hide in an alleyway cleaner than the others, climb a metal fence, vault over the garbage bins randomly placed, climb up the walls of an apartment to get across a wall and reach the street opposite to the one they had entered Downtown.

"This is the police! Surrender where you are!", A policeman, Hanzo, Shay recognized, ordered from a rooftop. On the street, his other four colleagues cut the access out of Downtown and further into the commercial district.

"Come on!", Ming says, returning to the alleyway they had gone through. This time however, Ming pulled Shay to a large garbage bin and signaled him to get in. Begrudged, Shay complies, covering his nose from the rotten smell. Ming hops in and closes the lid. The footsteps and the metal sounds reach the area, questions of their whereabouts are made, the orders are given and soon any signs of the policemen disappear.

"Coast´s clear.", Ming states, looking over a gap. They leave the garbage bin and shake off any trash they have stuck on their clothes. "Not the first time I´m chased by them and not the first time I´m not arrested."

"Good for you. Problem is they are likely blocking our exits and we´re cut off.", Shay comments.

"Ah, you are forgetting that they don´t know that we can parkour our way up the buildings. If we start climbing there and make our way to the rooftop of that green apartment, we can move undetected and leave Downtown.", Ming explains, pointing to two buildings separated by a large gap.

"Parkour? That a word for wall climbing?", Shay inquires with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, never heard it before?", Ming smiles at his companion. "Seriously, where do you come from Shay?"

Ignoring the taunt, Shay once more follows Ming.

Tenzin was having a very stressful day.

His meeting in the Council hadn´t gone smoothly like he had hoped. His fellow councilmen were still doubtful that the Equalists were a matter of deep concern, calling it a bunch of protesters with nothing to do and complaining about life. Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever the perspective of the person, Tarrlok had been the sole councilman to want to hear any measures to take in order to control the situation. With the man, you could never be sure what to expect from having his support. Tenzin had the feeling in his heart that things would scale into a disaster. He had to talk with some trusted public workers to keep tabs on any troublemakers with potential ties with the anti-bending movement. After he finished with the priority problem of the moment.

Shay had been arrested and was due to spend the night in jail.

"I´m here to see Lin.", he tells the policeman at the reception. The policeman, knowing who he was, nodded and motioned him to go through.

Tenzin rushes to the lobby and along the way keeps asking for Lin Beifong´s whereabouts, firstly getting negative responses but finally a statement saying that the Police Chief was in her office, filling paperwork. Thanking the officer for the information, Tenzin walks past the desk clerks discussing cases or exchanging impressions on one matter or another, knocks on the door to the Chief´s office and after hearing a harsh "who is it?", he enters the room.

"Good afternoon, Lin.", he greets cordially.

"Oh, it´s you. Are you here for you guest?", Lin asks, her tone as commanding as usual.

"Yes. I sup…", Tenzin begins.

"No Tenzin. I´m sorry but Shay will stay here for the night. Tomorrow you can pick him up.", Lin says, packing a set of papers and setting them aside, grabbing another sheet of paper.

"Please Lin. I´m sure that what Shay has done can be compensated.", Tenzin begs.

"You think? Disturbing public peace, damaging stands, practicing vigilantism and attempting to escape the police can be compensated?", Lin looks at Tenzin hard. "I´ve gotten calls over lunch demanding that Viper gets arrested too, but we have no idea where he went after his little confrontation."

"I believe Shay had a pretty good reason to confront Viper, he is a peaceful man. I´m sure his side of the story will clear things up.", Tenzin comments, approaching Lin´s desk. "Has he given his testimony yet?"

"No, he was only brought in here half an hour ago. In fact, I´d like to get him off my back right now. Follow me.", Lin orders, rising from her chair with a file on her hands.

Glad to oblige, Tenzin stays behind her as they go to one of the interrogation rooms, stopping by the second one. A policeman stands guard inside the room to prevent a handcuffed Shay from attempting to escape, even though the latter showed no signs of wanting to leave. He looks spaced out from everything around him, a hand holding his chin in deep thought and the other resting on top of the table, tapping his fingers on the table systematically. Tenzin looks at Lin, who doesn´t return the look.

"Stay here. If I need you, I´ll let you know.", she says, going inside the room without waiting for a reply. Tenzin was not thinking of giving her one anyway.

When the Chief of Police walks into the room, the policeman salutes her and resumes a straight position. Lin nods curtly at that and slams the file in front of Shay, numerating him of the charges against him and the hundreds of yuans that would be spent to pay for the public damage. Shay listens to her with a focused look, never faltering at the authoritative tone that rose slightly.

"I can explain.", Shay justifies when Lin stops and sits in the opposite chair to his.

"What is there to explain?", Lin asks sarcastically. Shay knew that he had to choose his next words carefully.

"Viper had delivered a box to a merchant for safekeeping until a contact of his arrived. The box contained two of my weapons that you were handed over by Tenzin before I woke up, weapons that can do lethal damage or severely injure those caught in its trajectory.", Shay explains. To this, Lin raises a skeptical brow. "When I confronted the mobster with these facts, he attacked me and it was with the assistance of… an ally, that I managed to find out how he had gotten my pistols."

"Oh yeah? Then enlighten me.", Lin demanded, resting her elbows on the table.

Shay looks at the policeman standing guard next to me and then he accepts.

"Under one condition: This man has to leave us alone.", he imposes, jerking his thumb to said policeman.

"And why should I send him away? I´d need a good reason.", Lin chuckles sarcastically.

"It´s the fact that right now you are the only one I trust with this information and that I don´t want word to spread out.", Shay responds.

Lin studies him for some seconds, to see if he was bluffing or lying. And her conclusion was either he was telling the truth or he had some training in keeping his intentions hidden. But she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She ordered the sergeant to leave the room and after he had entirely left the room, she turned her attention back on Shay.

"The police force has a mole working for the Triple Threat Triads, someone with a rank high enough to get my weapons and leave without anyone giving it a second thought. He could have also stolen them as well, and honestly that is the most reliable option I can think of. He supplied Viper my pistols and perhaps he´s supplied more than that before: operation plans, schedules, information on upcoming major events, and much more…", Shay reveals, lifting fingers as he counted all he deduced.

"That is a very serious claim, Cormac. Do you have any evidence to back it up?", Lin, still unbelieving, asks.

"The only evidence I have is Viper´s confession. But maybe I can identify your mole for you.", Shay proposes. When Lin crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, he proceeded. "Where I come from, there is this rare sixth sense that awakens in few, a gift that comes from being a descendant of a civilization that existed prior to mankind, in the times of Adam and Eve. I have been trying to awaken it within me and today with some help I succeeded. It allowed me to track down Viper and also to figure out the bending of the people around me and if they would be helpful or hostile towards me."

"Is that right? Care to demonstrate?", Lin asks for proof. Inwardly, she called it a bunch of crap.

Shay nods, closing his eyes and enhancing his senses once more until the flicker returned. When he opens them again, the word is blue and white, Lin was surrounded by a blue aura and her hands were cracked and brown but with metal around the fingers, and, to his curiosity, behind the one-sided mirror, that he had assumed as a regular mirror, he could see Tenzin, his hands filled with white veins, and the guard that had been guarding him. Unconsciously, the range of his sixth sense spread further and soon Shay was capable of seeing every man and woman in the building.

"I can see you are an earthbender who has also mastered metalbending. Behind that mirror Tenzin and that guard from before are watching us with interest and I count… 68 men and 70 women working in this building, 40 of which are firebenders, 34 are waterbenders and the rest are earthbenders. Wait.", Shay pauses, looking down. Seeing through the floor and to lower stories, a golden male figure chats with a fellow officer. "I can also tell you who is the mole. He´s a firebender two stories below and I bet he is an officer, according to his gear."

Lin stays silent with her eyes narrowed. Shay calls off his gift and waits for her final answer, which comes with a sigh. "The fact that I am an earthbender is a well-known fact around Republic City, but the rest I have no idea how you managed to figure out.", he says. She gets up and performs a gesture with her fingers to tell someone to come inside. Not long after, Tenzin enters the room. "You´re the expert in the Spirit World Tenzin. How do you explain this?", she asks.

"I have no idea, Lin. What Shay has done is something I have never seen before and it is extraordinary. To be able to find out one´s bending and their intentions is supposedly impossible or a great deal of luck or study.", Tenzin confesses, looking rather impressed at Shay.

"Well sir, I make my own luck.", Shay grins despite the situation. Of course he had to admit that without Héping´s help he would have never gotten that far.

"Lin, I can assure you that Shay is trustworthy. If he says there is a mole in the police force, we had to arrest him.", Tenzin supports his guest.

"And how do we do that? Shay´s testimony is all there is and his word won´t be enough for an arrest warrant.", Lin points out.

"if I may?", Shay asks. The attention of the older man and woman is on him. "If we pass on a false message to the mobster of a meeting with this mole and vice-versa, they might be drawn out and you can arrest them red-handed. Confession, witnesses and statements."

"Hum, good reasoning, Cormac.", Lin praises without changing from her serious expression. She takes out of her belt a set of keys, find one and with it she relieves Shay from his cuffs. "Point me to the man and let´s be done with this."

"Right away.", Shay nods, rubbing his wrists to restart the blood circulation. With him on the lead and Tenzin and Lin behind him, they leave the interrogation room.

The abandoned liquors factory had been his playground when he was a kid. It was funny seeing how it hadn´t been demolished or sold to another company during thirty years, perhaps due to the rumors that the place was haunted by an angry spirit or that one of the triads had rigged the place. Hilarious on how deceived people could be when you begin a rumor.

He knows where to find the former boss` office, up a metal staircase that began on the other side of the room where the distillation was done. He walks towards it confident that his proposal would be heard and accepted, climbs it loudly to let them know he was there and he swings the door open with a smirk. The only light comes from a lamp on a desk, partially hidden behind a hooded man with his back turned to him and a hand holding the other behind the back. From the position of his head, he is looking over a radio broadcasting the evening news.

"I don´t know who you are, but take my invitation to leave right now and you might be relieved of a painful death.", the man speaks, tone deeply serious and threatening.

"If I do, you won´t be able to hear what I have to say.", the newcomer retorts, eyeing his left and right. He knows his guards are there, waiting to leap on to him the second they sense something is off. "I come here because I believe in you and the movement. I am tired of the tyranny that our society faces at the hands of benders, and I want to help."

"What makes you so sure that you should come with me and be by my side?", the man questions after a small pause, head slightly tilted to the left.

"I know the city like the back of my hand, sir, every corner, alleyway, every secret. I am also an efficient chi-blocker and I can take down a squad of benders by myself.", the newcomer enumerates, pride swelling at his own words.

"Is that all?"

The answer catches Ming off guard before he disguises it. "Yes. I can teach your soldiers how to chi-block benders to your soldiers and give them a very detailed knowledge for the city. You would benefit from these qualities when you take control of the city."

The man, for once, says nothing, listening to the rest of the evening news. Then he turns off the radio and turns to Ming. The latter can see the mask that covers his face, the mark that a firebender had left on him after he was attacked and his family´s farm burned to the ground.

"How do I know you are not lying?", he asks.

In response to the question, and thinking with his pride rather than his brain, Ming launches a series of jabs to the masked man, only to see them evaded by leaning to the right. The masked man hit Ming with his own jabs and Ming fell on the floor, paralyzed. The guards come out of the shadows and one prepares to deliver a punch to the downed non-bender.

"Hold.", the masked man commands, holding out a hand. The guard lowers his fist and steps aside. "So you were not lying. Very well, I shall give you an opportunity to prove yourself. Meet us tomorrow here at dawn and I shall test your skills properly. What is your name?"

"Ming Zhao, sir.", Ming introduces himself, his heart beating much faster.

"Take Mr. Zhao to a Satomobile and drive him home. If he tries anything, you will neutralize him and dispose of him.", the masked man orders his guards. Then he returns his attention to Ming. "Do not disappoint me, Mr. Zhao."

"I don´t plan to, sir. Thank you Amon, sir!", Ming thanks. At last, his path to change the world for the better had begun.

And here it is!

I hope you enjoyed my take on the stealth and the Eagle Vision. For those wondering how I wrote the latter, let me tell you this: I prefer Oliver Bowden´s approach on Assassin´s Creed. More historically correct, gap-filling and better explained than some moments of the game. And the way he wrote Eagle Vision in "Assassin´s Creed: Black Flag" novel adaptation was way better than any other explanation I had come across.

And now you know what Ming is. You knew what he wanted to be and now how he will start his path to become one of Republic City´s most dangerous Equalists, the Lieutenant. Yes, I also made him a chi-blocker because why not?

Lastly I wanted to ask something: I´m having doubts on how to improve my writing and I recently heard of the Beta-Readers. If anyone could help me write better and perhaps not so repetitively, I would be glad.

For now I´m taking a small break to gather my ideas. Check out my other stories if you want to, re-read my story again, have fun, and I´ll see you later.